From Basic to Beautiful: Creating Your own Colors

There are few things as satisfying as the glide of tempera paint over a clean crisp sheet or paper or across a fresh empty canvas. Yes, children love paint and will be happy to engage with it whenever and however it’s presented, but one might draw an analogy between ‘out of the box yellow’ and ‘out of the box milk’—it might all turn out alright, but there’s something that doesn’t quite seem as authentic about it.

In this blog, then, we’ll look at an easy way to take your basic paints and make them special—creating your own colors! This is an excellent way to make basic paint activities just that much more fun. It’s something my children and I do all the time and the look on their faces as the colors subtly (or drastically) shift is priceless each and every time.

Step 1. Squirt a good deal of white paint into the jar. This creates solid base from which to amplify the colors. Although I’m no color theorist, adding white is my go-to choice for the way it makes the resulting colors pop. (For jars, I tend to prefer small class jars like these. However, anything from a mason jars to baby food jars work perfectly well also).

Step 2. Add color(s) that you (or preferably your child) indicates they wish to add. So much of the fun of mixing various colors is the choice—serious, silly, or otherwise—to mix certain combinations. If your child is able to add paint, let them do it! If it spills, it’s fine. Paint. is. washable.

Step 3. Make a prediction. This makes this already interesting and engaging exercise into a bit of an experiment, especially as the children grow older and more familiar. In many ways, color mixing is an example of an early science activity in that it introduces the idea that by mixing two different things you get a third, again completely different, thing.

Step 4. Mix! Go to town! You can experiment with mixing slowly at first and then more rapidly as the final color starts to take shape. We usually sing a song such as “What will it become? What will it become?” as we stir.

* The last two steps are optional, but if included in your time together make the activity feel even more complete.

* Optional Step 5. Test the new colors on a reference sheet. This allows the children to see the differences of the colors they mixed as they will look ‘out of the jar’ and may lead into some interesting noticings about the variations and shades of different colors depending on those that you mixed.

* Optional Step 6. Name the colors! This is optional, and by far the most fun (in my experience) of all! Interesting names like ‘macaroni and cheese’ and ‘strawberry’ and ‘spinach’ add another layer of fun to the activity. Plus, you’ll be surprised by the way your children remember the names! (And, yes, they can understand that what we call ‘spinach’ is also green).

Happy mess-making!

Ron

FURTHER READING.

There are some fantastic books that look at color mixing and creating as well—a perfect extension of this sort of painting activity! Check out:

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh for a classic look at mixing the primary colors.

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni for a story based on color splotches.

Sky Color by Peter Reynolds for a book that helps children begin to appreciate the nuances of the colors they see every day.